This is a legacy article. For information on tuners and 4th Generation Tablo DVRs, go here.
Tuners decode the signal coming in from your OTA (over-the-air) TV antenna and split it either two ways, for dual-tuner legacy Tablo DVRs, or four ways, for quad-tuner legacy Tablo DVRs.
On legacy Tablo devices, a tuner is required for:
- Watching a live TV program.
- Recording a program.
- Watching a live or recorded program away from home using Tablo Connect (unless your remote streaming quality is set to 'full').
Watching a completed recording does not require a tuner.
The more tuners your Tablo DVR has, the more concurrent live TV streams or recordings it can support.
Tuner Reassigned?
Recordings take precedence over Live TV streams, so your live TV session may end if a tuner is needed for a recording. You can, however, unschedule the recording in question and return to watching live TV if you prefer.
Other Things Tuners Are Used For
On legacy Tablo devices, tuners are also used to generate Fast-Forward Previews so, if you enjoy that feature on your legacy Tablo device, having extra tuners can come in handy.
Tuner Math Recap
Tuner Math and the Legacy Transition
The Legacy Transition allows compatible legacy Tablo DVRs to be accessed via 4th Generation Tablo apps. These apps include access to 60+ free streaming channels.
Because these channels are delivered via the internet and not over-the-air, tuner math for free streaming channels is slightly different.
Regardless of the number of tuners your legacy Tablo device has, you are limited to a maximum of four concurrent actions.
This means with a 2-tuner Tablo, you can watch or record up to two OTA and two free streaming recordings at once. With a 4-tuner Tablo, you can watch or record up to four channels, with a maximum of two free streaming recordings at once.
If your Tablo has four concurrent actions underway, you cannot watch a streaming channel live.
As always, viewing completed recordings from free streaming channels at home does not require a tuner.